Joshua Watson was an English wine merchant, philanthropist, a prominent member of the high church

High church

The term "High Church" refers to beliefs and practices of ecclesiology, liturgy and theology, generally with an emphasis on formality, and resistance to "modernization." Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term has traditionally been principally associated with the...

 party and of several charitable organizations, who became known as "the best layman in England".

Life

Joshua Watson was born on Tower Hill

Tower Hill

Tower Hill is an elevated spot northwest of the Tower of London, just outside the limits of the City of London, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Formerly it was part of the Tower Liberty under the direct administrative control of Tower...

 in the city of London on Ascension day, 9 May 1771. His forefathers were of the hardy and independent race of northern " 'statesmen;" but his father, John Watson, had come on foot from Cumberland

Cumberland

Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....

 to London in early youth to try his fortunes, and establish himself successfully as a wine merchant on Tower Hill. His mother, Dorothy, born Robson, cousin to the artist, George Fennel Robson, was also from the north of England. John and Dorothy Watson had two sons – John James (1767–1839), afterwards rector of Hackney

Hackney (parish)

Hackney was a parish in the historic county of Middlesex. The parish church of St John-at-Hackney was built in 1789, replacing the nearby former 16th century parish church dedicated to St Augustine . The original tower of that church was retained to hold the bells until the new church could be...

 for forty years and archdeacon of St. Albans; and Joshua, who followed his father's business. The two brothers remained close throughout their lives.

At the age of ten Joshua was placed under the tuition of Mr. Crawford at Newington Butts, and at the age of thirteen was sent to a commercial school kept by Mr. Eaton in the city. In 1786 he was taken into his father's counting-house, which had then moved from Tower Hill to Mincing Lane

Mincing Lane

Mincing Lane is a one-way street in the City of London linking Fenchurch Street southward to Great Tower Street.Its name is a corruption of Mynchen Lane - so-called from the tenements held there by the Benedictine 'mynchens' or nuns of St Helen's Bishopsgate .It was for some years the world's...

; in 1792, when he came of age, he was admitted a partner. In 1797 he married Mary, the daughter of Thomas Sikes, a banker in Mansion House Street. Her uncle, Charles Daubeny

Charles Daubeny (archdeacon)

Charles Daubeny was an English churchman and controversialist, who became archdeacon of Salisbury.-Life:The second son of George Daubeny, a Bristol merchant, he was baptized 16 August 1745, educated at a private school at Philip's Norton, and sent when 15 years old to Winchester College...

, and her brother, Thomas Sikes, vicar of Guilsborough, who had been at Oxford with Joshua's elder brother, were among the leading churchmen of the day; and Joshua from his early years was brought into
contact with other members of the high-church party, of which he afterwards became the virtual leader. Among his early friends and advisers were William Stevens

William Stevens (writer)

William Stevens was an English hosier and lay writer on religious topics from a High Church perspective, the biographer and editor of the works of William Jones of Nayland.-Life:...

, the disciple and biographer of William Jones of Nayland, and founder of the club of "Nobody's Friends," of which Joshua Watson was an original member; Jonathan Boucher

Jonathan Boucher

Jonathan Boucher was an English clergyman, teacher and philologist.-Early career:Boucher was born in Blencogo, near Wigton, Cumberland, and educated at the Wigton grammar school. After training in Workington, Jonathan became a teacher at St Bees School and in 1759 went to Virginia, where he became...

, who became in 1785 vicar of Epsom, where John James Watson had his first curacy; and Sir John Richardson (afterwards a judge in the court of common pleas), who had been a college friend of John James Watson. Among other friends were Henry Handley Norris

Henry Handley Norris

Henry Handley Norris was an English clergyman and theologian. He was the clerical leader of the High Church grouping later known as the Hackney Phalanx, that grew up around him and his friend Joshua Watson.-Life:...

, with whom he maintained an unbroken friendship of nearly sixty years, and William Van Mildert

William Van Mildert

William Van Mildert was the last palatine Bishop of Durham , and one of the founders of the University of Durham...

, rector of St. Mary-le-Bow in the city (afterwards bishop of Durham). Van Mildert submitted both his Boyle Lectures

Boyle Lectures

The Boyle Lectures were named after Robert Boyle, a prominent English/Irish natural philosopher of the 17th century. Boyle endowed a series of lectures in his will, which were designed as a forum where prominent academics could discuss the existence of God....

and his Bampton Lectures

Bampton Lectures

The Bampton Lectures at the University of Oxford, England, were founded by a bequest of John Bampton,. They have taken place since 1780.They were a series of annual lectures; since the turn of the 20th century they have typically been biennial. They continue to concentrate on Christian theological...

to Watson's revision, and was largely guided by his advice in literary matters. Nor was Van Mildert the only man of letters who showed confidence in his literary power. At the house of Van Mildert in Ely Place he met the elder Christopher Wordsworth

Christopher Wordsworth (Trinity)

Christopher Wordsworth , was an English divine and scholar.Born in Cockermouth, Cumberland, he was the youngest brother of the poet William Wordsworth, and was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he became a fellow in 1798.Twelve years later he received the degree of DD...

, master of Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

, whom he joined in revising the proof-sheets of Christopher Wordsworth the younger

Christopher Wordsworth

Christopher Wordsworth was an English bishop and man of letters.-Life:Wordsworth was born in London, the youngest son of the Rev. Dr. Christopher Wordsworth, Master of Trinity and a nephew of the poet William Wordsworth...

's work, Theophilus Anglicanus. These men were, with Archdeacon Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison (archdeacon)

Benjamin Harrison was an Anglican clergyman and ecclesiastical administrator.His father was Benjamin Harrison, Treasurer of Guy's Hospital.Harrison was educated at Christ Church, Oxford...

 and William Rowe Lyall

William Rowe Lyall

William Rowe Lyall was an English churchman, Dean of Canterbury from 1845 to 1857.-Life:He was born in Stepney, Middlesex, the fifth son of John Lyall and Jane Comyns. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge . In 1817 he married Catherine Brandreth , daughter of Dr. Brandreth of Liverpool...

, Watson's chief friends and coadjutors.

Though "not slothful in business," Watson always had his heart in church work, and in 1811 he took a house at Clapton, within five minutes' walk of his brother's rectory at Hackney, and also near Henry Handley Norris. The three worked shoulder to shoulder. Clapton and Hackney became
the centre of the various religious and philanthropic projects of the high-church party, and the coterie from which they emanated was called the "Hackney Phalanx". In 1811 the National Society for the Education of the Poor was formed: it originated in a meeting at Watson's house at Clapton, consisting of Watson, Norris, and John Bowles. Watson became its first treasurer, and it grew with marvellous rapidity.

In the same year (1811) Watson and Norris purchased the British Critic

British Critic

The British Critic: A New Review was a quarterly publication, established in 1793 as a conservative and high church review journal riding the tide of British reaction against the French Revolution.-High church review:...

in order to restore it to its original lines as the organ
of the high-church party, from which it had somewhat diverged. In 1814 Watson retired from business in order to devote himself exclusively to works of piety and charity. He never missed any meeting of the Society for Propagation of the Gospel, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, or the National Society, and his counsel was highly valued. He took a deep interest in the colonial church, being an intimate friend of Bishop Middleton of Calcutta, Bishop Inglis of Nova Scotia, Bishop Broughton of Australasia, and subsequently Bishop Selwyn of New Zealand. In 1814 he was appointed, together with his friend Archdeacon Cambridge, treasurer of the Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge, which during his treasurership increased greatly its work and income. About the same time he became secretary of the relief fund for the German sufferers from the Napoleonic wars

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

. In 1817 the Church Building Society, called at first the Church Room Society, was formed. Watson was largely instrumental in its foundation, drawing up the original resolution. This was quickly followed by a royal commission for church building issued under Lord Liverpool's government. Watson was one of the commissioners, and found the work so engrossing that in 1822 he took a house, No. 6 Park Street, Westminster, where he lived for sixteen years, in order to be near the scene of his labours.

He was also treasurer of the Clergy Orphan School, which was, perhaps, of all his benevolent schemes, the one nearest to his heart. In 1820 he was with difficulty persuaded by his friend Van Mildert to accept the honorary degree of D.C.L. offered to him by the university of Oxford. His connection with Oxford brought him into contact with Charles Lloyd

Charles Lloyd (bishop)

Charles Lloyd , Regius Professor of Divinity and Bishop of Oxford from 1827 to 1829, was born in West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire on 26 September 1784, the second son of Thomas Lloyd. Thomas, a 'clergyman and schoolmaster', was Rector of Aston-sub-Edge in Gloucestershire and ran a school at Great...

, the regius professor of divinity, afterwards bishop of Oxford

Bishop of Oxford

The Bishop of Oxford is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Oxford in the Province of Canterbury; his seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford...

, who said of him, 'I look upon Joshua as the best layman in England.' Some time before he had become associated, through his friend Wordsworth, with the archbishop of Canterbury Charles Manners-Sutton

Charles Manners-Sutton

Charles Manners-Sutton was a priest in the Church of England who served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1805 to 1828.-Life:...

, who appreciated his business talents. Button's successor, Archbishop William Howley

William Howley

William Howley was a clergyman in the Church of England. He served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1828 to 1848.-Early Life, education, and interests:...

, had equal confidence in him. In 1828 he took a leading part in the foundation of King's College, London, and was a member of its first council. This brought him into communication with Hugh James Rose

Hugh James Rose

Hugh James Rose was an English churchman and theologian who served as the second Principal of King's College London....

, for whom he conceived unbounded admiration. In 1833, layman though he was, he had the task of revising the Clerical Address to the archbishop of Canterbury, expressing attachment to the
church, which was drawn up by William Palmer

William Palmer

William Palmer may refer to: *William Palmer , British Olympic athlete* William Palmer , English cricketer*William Palmer , doctor and multiple murderer...

; the Lay Declaration, which immediately followed, was entirely his composition. When the Additional Curates' Society was formed in 1837, Watson was the framer of its constitution and its first treasurer.

In 1838 his only daughter, Mary Sikes Watson, married Henry Michell Wagner, vicar of Brighton, but she died, to her father's grief, two years later, leaving two sons. His wife died in 1831, and his only brother in 1839. After these losses he gave up his house in Park Street, and lived alternately at the house of his wife's sister at Clapton, and his brother's widow at Daventry. In 1842, owing to the infirmities of age, he resigned the treasurership of the National Society, but he still interested himself in religious and philanthropic work; and when the new missionary college of St. Augustine, Canterbury

St Augustine's College, Canterbury

St Augustine's College, Canterbury was a Church of England theological college in Canterbury, Kent that opened in 1848 and closed in 1976. Many of those who trained there went on to serve as missionaries...

, was founded in 1845, he was one of the council. He
retained the treasurership of the Additional Curates' Society until he approached his eighty-third year. He died at Clapton, 30 Jan. 1855, and was buried on 7 Feb. in the family vault at Hackney.

Watson was an interesting link between the high-churchmen before, and the high-churchmen after, the Oxford movement

Oxford Movement

The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church Anglicans, eventually developing into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose members were often associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of lost Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy...

. Dr. Pusey, after several interviews with him at Brighton in 1842-3, wrote to him: "One had become so much the object of suspicion, that I cannot say how cheering it was to be recognised by you as carrying on the same torch which we had received from yourself and from those of your generation who had remained faithful to the old teaching." But Watson did not sympathise entirely with the Oxford movement; there were many points on which he entirely disagreed. He gratefully recognised, however, its good effects, and never lost his confidence in its future. John Keble

John Keble

John Keble was an English churchman and poet, one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement, and gave his name to Keble College, Oxford.-Early life:...

's Christian Year was one of his favourite books, and he was an admirer and constant reader of Newman's sermons.

He was too diffident to write anything on his own account; his only publication of note was an edition of Hele's Sacred Offices (a book of devotions which he always used himself) in 1825. This had a large circulation on its first appearance, and a still larger on its republication in 1842. There is an excellent miniature of Watson by Sir William Charles Ross

William Charles Ross

Sir William Charles Ross was an English portrait and portrait miniature painter of Scottish descent; early in his career, he was known for historical paintings. He became a member of the Royal Academy in 1842.-Life and work:...

.

Further reading

• Alan Brunskill Webster, Joshua Watson: The Story of a Layman, 1771-1855, S.P.C.K., 1954
• Edward Churton
  Edward Churton
  Edward Churton was an English churchman and Spanish scholar.-Life:He was born on 26 January 1800 at Middleton Cheney, Northamptonshire, the second son of Ralph Churton, archdeacon of St. David's. He was educated at Charterhouse School and Christ Church, Oxford, where he proceeded B.A. 1821, and...
  
  , Memoir of Joshua Watson, J. Henry and J. Parker 1863, from the Internet Archive
  Internet Archive
  The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
  
  

External links

• Joshua Watson and The National Society, the full text of a lecture given in his honour at the Society's 150th anniversary in 1961